"New application? The deadline for staff application was weeks ago, the only thing coming up next is the student admission test."
"Yes, Madam. However, this particular applicant has a recommendation letter from Professor Simon."
"What? From Simon?"
Two figures sat inside a luxurious room, the interior was the utmost fancy, with gleaming wooden furniture and lights illuminating from a grand chandelier made entirely of gold.
Scattered across the ground, and on the bookshelves were not just books. But also String Artifacts, each priceless with no available markets.
"Yes, Madam." The gentleman sat in the guest seating area, his gaze landed on the little girl sitting behind a large, ornate writing desk.
"And I must say… this applicant is quite special…"
"You'll know once you meet him, but I'm afraid your decision today will set a precedent for this school— no, perhaps for even the entire Kingdom."
"Well." The girl smiled, as she took a bite from a macaron.
"I'm all for breaking the standards. Call him in, we must have a board meeting immediately!"
***
"Madam Renna agreed for an interview, please, come with me."
Aurora stood up, and followed the same gentleman with some distance. He was currently dressed in a custom burgundy suit, everything, from the lapel to cuffs spoke perfection.
Normally a suit like this would take weeks, but the old man pulled off two all-nighters to craft this piece of art.
Although he still charged the standard price, Aurora knew he had owed him a favour. Right now, time was more valuable than money in his dictionary.
"A word before you go in, young man." They came to a stop in front of an oddly lavish wooden door, and Aurora heard the man speak softly, yet could only see his back.
"I am Lucien D'Aramont, Lucien is fine, if we become colleagues."
"Your admission interview today will be quite different; normally, we would have professors in charge of meeting with new career applicants."
"However, due to your circumstances, and the deadline had already passed, Madam Renna decided to call for a board meeting."
Lucien turned to face the young man, his eyes sharp, tone solemn.
"Forunately, majority of the board is away right now. For today, only Madam Renna, our head master; Professor Laurent and I will be present."
"By unanimous vote, if more than two of us had accepted your career admission, then you've earned the status of a prestigious Noctis professor."
"Sorry I'm not able to reveal more details; when you're ready, the interview will begin as soon as you step in the door."
"Thank you, Professor D'Aramont." Aurora slightly bowed his head.
"I am more than ready thanks to your kindness."
Lucien only nodded, silent as he opened the door.
"Well, well! So this is the face we've been waiting for!"
Before Aurora could even see the interior, an energetic voice had called out from the inside.
It came from a little girl sitting at the end of a long table, with an elegant woman wearing glasses seated on her right.
The little girl had pink eyes and ponytails, wearing an unusually large trench coat even when the fireplace had made the room warm enough.
Contrastingly, the elegant woman only had worn…
'Is she in her pyjamas?'
Aurora kept that question in his mind, as he waited for Lucien to sit down before his introduction.
"Good day, Madam Renna, Professor Laurent and Professor D'Aramont."
He greeted them in order by meeting their eyes, ensuring to address the little girl as the headmaster.
"I'm Aurora, and I came here today in hope to work for the Grand Noctis Academy."
"How old are you, Aurora?"
The question was asked by Professor Laurent, she frowned the moment she had seen him walking in.
"16, and soon 17 next month." Aurora replied politely. In the earlier memories of the young boy, he had celebrated his birthday with his family. Although after becoming a slave no one celebrated with him, each year at the exact date, he would still remember, and sing himself a song before sleep.
"Let's use 17 then," she continued.
"Don't you think you're in the wrong place? The student admission test will begin soon, maybe we can talk about that."
"With all due respect, Professor Laurent." Aurora said.
"I have come today not to be judged by my age, but by my expertise. I believe I am qualified to teach the next generation of String Masters, though my Remnant Art is still at stage I, my mastery lies in Spell Tuning, which was mentioned in the letter of recommendation."
"Expertise?" Professor Laurent did not hide the annoyance in her voice, clearly, she took offence at Aurora's persistence.
"What expertise are we talking about here? Your record is clean, nothing! No degree, projects or internships!"
"And this," she reached for the letter of recommendation on the table, and waved it in the air.
"Sure, it's legit. Yet Simon mentioned you're his cousin on here, I could not take it as anything but blatant nepotism!"
"I shall partake in this farce no longer!" She stood up in fury, and turned to Renna.
"Madam, if you don't mind, I'll be taking my leave now."
"Professor Laurent, your temper." Renna smiled, making Aurora believe she might be enjoying what's happening.
"Why don't we listen to what Aurora has to say? I'm sure he didn't just come here to waste our time…"
She paused, and it felt as if the world had come to a halt too.
"Becuase I too, don't appreciate a farce."
'How menacing…' Aurora refused to let go of the sight of the young girl, who at meters away, her smile had brought chills down his spine.
'Even at my prime, I suppose she could hold me for a few seconds. To think all that devilish power could hide behind that of an innocent face…'
"Madam, may I take a seat?"
"Oh, of course!" She clapped her hands together, making an apologetic gesture for not offering it earlier.
"Thank you." Aurora pulled out a chair, then sat as he deliberately placed himself at the other end of the long table.
"I understand there exists of many concerns regarding my capabilities, and I'm glad Professor Laurent has addressed it. Because all String Masters have a little more pride than normal people, so if you feel this way now, I could only imagine how the students will react."
"However, I am also confident in my Spell mastery. The letter of recommendation was only a ticket I needed to enter the campus, I had always planned to show you something more, here and now."
"If you're open minded, not caring about societal norms but only Tuning, then may I ask for a chance to prove myself?"
Upon hearing this, all of the board members displayed a subtle, intriguing expression on their faces.
'This young man is truly something…' was the thought they happened to coincide, his words were clean, points were sharp yet voice so calm, no one would've expected he was only a kid turning 17 this year.
"Rejecting an applicant with a recommendation letter had never happened for Noctis, or any renowned academy in our Kingdom." Lucien was the first to break the silence, he was dressed in a fine navy fit while wearing white gloves.
"The reason behind the wide acknowledgement for this piece of paper, is because he who wrote it will also risk his career by doing so."
"By closing the door on this young man simply because of his age, it is essentially an insult to Professor Simon, who worked his entire life to reach where he is today."
"I wouldn't like to face public criticism right before the year had even started."
"Well," Professor Laurent clicked her tongue, clearly dissatisfied.
"What solution do you have in mind?"
"A fair trial." Lucien turned to Renna.
"Just like how we test every applicant with three Tuning problems, we could employ the same method."
"Nonsense!" Professor Laurent raised her voice.
"The problems were carefully written and edited in a span of weeks to ensure fairness as well as judgement for whether they are capable of teaching or just a good String Master."
"There's not enough time to write new ones, and we certainly won't use the problems from the last test, since who knows if it's been leaked to this guy."
"It seems you always let prejudice take the better of you, Laurent." Lucien leaned forward, his tone became colder.
"You got a problem with that?" Professor Laurent laid her foot heavily onto the table.
"A month without me kicking your ass has already made you forget what it's like?"
"Well, well!" Renna suddenly budged in, just in time before things escalated.
"I'm glad your relationship has gotten better over the holidays~"
She slid off the chair, landing softly, then wandered towards Aurora.
"I don't dislike Lucien's idea… in fact, I love it!"
"Three board members, three problems! We will come up with one each within 2 hours, if Aurora successfully answers it, then he'll have the vote of the question-maker!"
"If he could answer two problems, then by unanimous decision, he will become our new hire at the beginning of Spring!"
"What do you say?" She pointed her macaron at the young man, so close Aurora could even smell the strawberry flavour.
"I'll do my best." He nodded once.
"Fantastic!" Renna ran off with incredible speed, yet her words still lingered in the air.
"I'll see you all in 2 hours!"
Aurora stood up slowly, then saw Professor Laurent walk past him.
"Thanks to that jerk, Madam Renna is fired up right now." She said as she gave a side-eye to Lucien.
"Her problems are always difficult to even comprehend, let alone solve. Years ago, she made three questions which were printed in the newspaper and sent to every corner of this land, yet none could have answered it since."
"I won't go easy on you too, tough luck."
She patted him on the solder, yawned as she left the door.
Lucien was the last to stand up, he walked to Aurora, and handed him a card.
"Our cafeteria is quite nice, I hope it will make your wait more enjoyable."
"You are too kind." Aurora accepted it with both hands, then left the room in heavy steps.
'This is the worst…'
'In order to reincarnate with only a fragment of my soul, I had to deliberately forget the overwhelming majority of the spells I've learnt in the past. Otherwise, the vast amount of memories would become such a burden.'
'I'm still having headaches because I chose to keep all my memories with… no, what am I thinking? I didn't do that for him.'
'But even with 99.99% of my Tuning knowledge gone, I should still be alright… right?'